Show Reference: "Contribution of the frontal eye field to gaze shifts in the head-unrestrained rhesus monkey: Neuronal activity"

Contribution of the frontal eye field to gaze shifts in the head-unrestrained rhesus monkey: Neuronal activity Neuroscience (31 August 2012), doi:10.1016/j.neuroscience.2012.08.050 by Thomas A. Knight

@article{knight-2012,
abstract = {The frontal eye field ({FEF}) has a strong influence on saccadic eye movements with the head restrained. With the head unrestrained, eye saccades combine with head movements to produce large gaze shifts, and microstimulation of the {FEF} evokes both eye and head movements. To test whether the dorsomedial {FEF} provides commands for the entire gaze shift or its separate eye and head components, we recorded extracellular single-unit activity in monkeys trained to make large head-unrestrained gaze shifts. We recorded 80 units active during gaze shifts, and closely examined 26 of these that discharged a burst of action potentials that preceded horizontal gaze movements. These units were movement or visuomovement related and most exhibited open movement fields with respect to amplitude. To reveal the relations of burst parameters to gaze, eye, and/or head movement metrics, we used behavioral dissociations of gaze, eye, and head movements and linear regression analyses. The burst number of spikes ({NOS}) was strongly correlated with movement amplitude and burst temporal parameters were strongly correlated with movement temporal metrics for eight gaze-related burst neurons and five saccade-related burst neurons. For the remaining 13 neurons, the {NOS} was strongly correlated with the head movement amplitude, but burst temporal parameters were most strongly correlated with eye movement temporal metrics (head–eye-related burst neurons, {HEBNs}). These results suggest that {FEF} units do not encode a command for the unified gaze shift only; instead, different units may carry signals related to the overall gaze shift or its eye and/or head components. Moreover, the {HEBNs} exhibit bursts whose magnitude and timing may encode a head displacement signal and a signal that influences the timing of the eye saccade, thereby serving as a mechanism for coordinating the eye and head movements of a gaze shift. \^{a}º We recorded frontal eye field ({FEF}) neurons during head-unrestrained gaze shifts. \^{a}º Neuronal bursts were related to movement amplitude and timing in 26 neurons. \^{a}º Head movement amplitude and eye saccade timing were represented in 13 ({HEBNs}). \^{a}º We also report gaze (8) and eye (5) movement amplitude and timing-related cells. \^{a}º {HEBN} burst activity may simultaneously encode a signal for eye–head coordination.},
author = {Knight, Thomas A.},
day = {31},
doi = {10.1016/j.neuroscience.2012.08.050},
issn = {03064522},
journal = {Neuroscience},
keywords = {biology, eye-movements, eye-saccades, fef, head-saccades, motor, sc},
month = aug,
posted-at = {2012-09-20 14:54:30},
priority = {2},
title = {Contribution of the frontal eye field to gaze shifts in the head-unrestrained rhesus monkey: Neuronal activity},
url = {http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.neuroscience.2012.08.050},
year = {2012}
}